RFID Forecasts, Players & Opportunities 2008-2018

In 2008 the value of the entire RFID market will be $5.29 billion, up from $4.93 billion in 2007. This includes tags, readers and software/services for RFID cards, labels, fobs and all other form factors. The majority of this value is due to large national RFID schemes for transportation and national ID, incorporating contactless (RFID) cards. For example, China has almost finished issuing each citizen with a national ID RFID card. The tagging of pallets and cases as demanded by retailers (mostly in the US) will use approximately 325 million RFID labels in 2008, but we see strong take off in retail outside mandates, such as from Marks & Spencer who have used well over 100 million RFID tags to date. The tagging of animals (such as pigs and sheep) is quickly taking off as it becomes a legal requirement in many more territories, with 90 million tags being used for this sector in 2008. This is happening in regions such as China and Australasia. In total, 2.16 billion tags will be sold in 2008 compared with 1.74 billion in 2007 and 1.02 billion in 2006.